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S ALT - TOLERANT SALT-TOLERANT PLANTS OF THE P LANTS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES U NITED A RAB E MIRATES F AWZI M K ARIM & A BDULLAH J D AKHEEL FAWZI M KARIM ABDULLAH J DAKHEEL ©2006 Published by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) PO Box 14660 Dubai United Arab Emirates All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the authors, except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Published, printed and bound in the United Arab Emirates ISBN 92-95053-00-1 Note: As of 1 January 2007, ISBN numbers will contain 13 digits instead of the current 10 digits to make them compatible with the bar codes assigned to commercialized publications. Although non- profit publications like this one do not require bar codes, 13-digit numbers will be issued for all publications. The 13-digit ISBN for this book is 978-92-95053-00-7. The photographs on the front cover and pages 10 (above), 13 (below), 14 (above), 15, 47, 115, 138 and 153 (left) were taken by Ghazi Al Jabri. All others were taken by Dr Fawzi Karim. Correct citation: Karim FM and Dakheel AG. Salt-tolerant plants of the United Arab Emirates. 2006. International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE. SALT-TOLERANT PLANTS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES FAWZI M KARIM ABDULLAH J DAKHEEL INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOSALINE AGRICULTRUE 2006 PREFACE Several of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, notably Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have published well- written scientific books about their flora and fauna. The UAE has also produced a good number of books about its plants and animals. However, until now no book has been published with a specific focus on the halophytes and salt-tolerant plants in the country. This book represents the first scientific documentation of these important plants in the UAE. The authors, Dr Fawzi Karim and Dr Abdullah Dakheel, met in the mid nineties at United Arab Emirates University at Al Ain, where they were both employed. Dr Karim, a taxonomist, managed the university herbarium, and Dr Dakheel, an ecologist, was a lecturer. Their mutual interest in the flora of the UAE drew them together, and this book is the happy result of their collaboration. With the blessing of the UAE Government, they set to work. Applying a standard scientific approach to their endeavor, the authors spent several years traversing the varied and rugged terrain that typifies the UAE. Their indefatigable efforts to record all the relevant plant species of the UAE's deserts, mountains, estuaries and salt marshes are to be heartily commended. The work, initiated by Dr Karim, was elaborated and reviewed by Dr Dakheel, who subsequently left the university to take up a position at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai. Impressed by the scientific value and originality of the book, ICBA agreed to prepare it for publication and to distribute it internationally. Salt-tolerant Plants of the United Arab Emirates is an important addition to the scientific libraries of the UAE and beyond. DR MOHAMMAD AL-ATTAR DIRECTOR GENERAL INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOSALINE AGRICULTURE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This survey was prepared on behalf of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai, UAE. The authors are grateful to Dr Mohammad Al- Attar, Director General, and to Professor Faisal Taha, Director of Technical Programs, for the support and assistance they provided to complete this survey. The authors also highly appreciate the efforts of Dr Sandra Child, and her successor Eric McGaw, Communications Specialists, for their editorial assistance. Finally, we offer our heartfelt thanks to Ghazi Al-Jabri for designing the book, as well as for his superb photography. The authors are indebted to the Auckland Botanical Society, New Zealand, for their kind help. FAWZI M KARIM ABDULLAH J DAKHEEL 2006 iii CONTENTS Preface i Acknowledgements iii Contents v Introduction 1 Land and Climate of the UAE 3 The Plants of the UAE 8 Major Vegetation Types in the UAE 9 Mangrove Forest Habitat 9 Salt Marshes and Saline Habitats 10 Sand Dune Habitat 14 Desert Plains and Wadis 16 Mountain Habitat 18 Salt Tolerance 19 Plant Adaptation to Drought and Salinity 20 Potential Uses of Salt-tolerant Plants 25 Classification of Saline and Alkaline Soils 27 Salinity in the UAE 28 Description and Color Plates 33 Appendixes 163 Glossary 165 List of Arabic and Scientific Names 170 Index of Scientific Names 175 List of Plant Family Names 177 Checklist of Salt-tolerant Plants in the UAE 178 References 185 v INTRODUCTION Salt-tolerant plants, both cultivated and wild, have assumed an increased importance during recent decades. Scarcity of fresh water resources suitable for conventional agriculture, salinization of irrigated agricultural lands, intrusion of seawater to inland aquifers due to overexploitation of groundwater resources and other natural causes have all led to increased salinity problems in many parts of the world. Arid environments are particularly susceptible to the problems of soil and water salinization. Water scarcity in such regions is a major constraint to further development, particularly with regard to meeting agricultural demands. The use of saline water resources and salt-affected soils in agricultural production is unavoidable in such environments. The UAE, like many countries in the West Asia and North Africa region, is dominated by arid environments characterized by low rainfall, high temperatures and prolonged summers. Shortage of fresh water resources, natural salinization of vast areas and secondary salinization of agricultural land are widespread in the country. The exploitation of saline water and salt-affected land requires appropriate plant species and varieties with economic or environmental value. Identifying both conventional and nonconventional plants that can tolerate saline conditions is the first step in utilizing saline water resources and saline environments. The UAE is characterized by three domains for the use of salt-tolerant plants. 1. Farmlands salinized as a result of poor irrigation. In parts of the UAE, huge areas of salinized farmland have resulted from poor irrigation practices. These lands normally require large (and mostly unavailable) amounts of water to leach away the salts before conventional crops can be grown. The possibility of growing salt-tolerant plants on these lands without any intervention is therefore worth serious consideration. 2. Arid areas that overlie reservoirs of brackish water. Many arid areas overlie saline aquifers or groundwater containing salt levels high enough to prohibit irrigation of conventional salt-sensitive crops. However, barren land can be made productive by growing selected salt-tolerant crops and employing special cultural techniques using brackish water for irrigation. 3. Coastal deserts. Extensive coastal deserts where seawater is the only water available typify the UAE. Although most farmers are reluctant to grow crops in sand with salty water, the disadvantages of these conditions for conventional crops become advantages when halophytes and salt-tolerant plants are cultivated. Arid countries can benefit significantly from using saline water and soils in agriculture. Salt-tolerant plants can utilize water and land unsuitable for SALT-TOLERANT PLANTS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 1 salt-sensitive crops for the economic production of food, fodder and many other products. This handbook provides a simple identification guide to 125 wild and cultivated plant species in the UAE, both common plants and rare ones. These plants are illustrated in color and described in detail to help naturalists, agriculturalists and scientists make positive identifications in the field. The text describes the distinctive features of genera as well as of individual species according to habitat, stem, branches, leaves, inflorescence, flowers, fruit, taxonomic notes, ecological notes, flowering time, distribution, estimated salinity tolerance and potential uses. Scientific and local Arabic names are also provided. The text has been arranged alphabetically according to family, genus and species. As far as we know, no previous attempt has been made to publish a comprehensive guide and checklist of salt-tolerant plants in the UAE. Extensive plant and soil collections were made throughout the whole country by the senior author. These collections provided the raw material that enabled the preparation of this book and the new checklist of salt-tolerant plants. 2 INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOSALINE AGRICULTURE LAND AND CLIMATE OF THE UAE LOCATION The UAE is a place of extremes, a dry land covered by sand dunes, plains, mountains, wadis and waterless riverbeds – a total land area of about 83,000 sq km. Desert lands comprise 90% of the whole area. The UAE is a federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, R’as al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The UAE is located along the southeastern shore of the Arabian Gulf and is bordered to the east by Oman and to the south and west by Saudi Arabia (Figure 1). Figure 1. TOPOGRAPHY The UAE comprises three distinct geological zones: 1. Mountains: stretching from Dibba in the northeast to Al Ain in the southeast. 2. Coastal lowlands: the western coastline, extending the length of the country along the Arabian Gulf, and the eastern coastline, extending from northeast to southeast along the Gulf of Oman. 3. Deserts: including the southern and western dune plains and the central desert. SALT-TOLERANT PLANTS OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 3 Saline flats, also known as sabkhas, were formed recently (in geological terms) along the northern coast between Sila and Umm al- Qaiwain. Another sabkha is in the eastern coastal area in Fujiairah. A few inland sabkhas are scattered and spread in different areas throughout the UAE, such as Umm al-Zumoul and Sueyhan.

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